Dwell on Dreams
by Susannah Wilde
Summary: On the night before the final battle, Harry wants Draco to make a choice.


**Title:** Dwell On Dreams  
**Author:** Susannah Wilde  
**Prompt:** Goodbyes in the rain are forever.  
**Pairing(s):** Harry Potter/Draco Malfoy  
**Word Count:** 1,287 words  
**Rating:** PG  
**Warning(s):** off-screen major character death, different war timeline  
**Disclaimer:** Harry Potter characters are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.  
**Notes:** Thanks to my beta, C who caught most of my flip-flopping verb tenses. All remaining mistakes are my own. Also thanks to the mods for hosting this great fest. Written for hp-drizzle.  
**Summary: **On the night before the final battle, Harry wants Draco to make a choice.

* * *

Dwell On Dreams

They were wrapped in each other's arms, sitting on the grass outside a safe house used by the Order, paying no attention to the light drizzle that had begun to fall. Two young men on opposite sides of the war, one fighting for a cause he didn't believe in, not for a long time anyway, just so that he and his mother could live to see another day. The other was fighting to keep an entire world safe from the clutches of evil.

Yet on this night, none of that mattered because they were here together, taking comfort in each other and forgetting about the rest of the world.

"Please let us, let _me_, help you, Draco. Come back to Grimmauld Place with me tonight and I promise that the Order give you the best protection available. Just follow me and I'll take care of the questions." Harry tilted Draco's head back until he could see the grey eyes he loved.

"I can't . . . my mother . . ." Draco spoke softly, but even Harry could hear the desperation in his voice.

"We'll find her, tonight. I'll ask Tonks and Kingsley to go the Manor and they'll bring her back, safe and sound," Harry said as he leaned down and kissed Draco's forehead.

Draco sighed and then grabbed Harry's hands, looking down at his long thin fingers entwined in tanned, calloused ones. "You promise me the world, Harry. I can't offer you that."

Harry took his hand away and grabbed a fistful of Draco's shirt, pulling on it until Draco's face was centimetres from his. Up close, Harry could tell that Draco truly believed that, from the frown lines that appeared on his forehead and the way his body became stiff in his embrace.

He couldn't have that, not with the battle looming tomorrow. "You already have, Draco. You gave me a reason to believe in the future, to end this long, stupid war so that I might want to be happy after all this is done."

Draco looked away. "You have many things in life to live for, Harry. Your friends, especially Granger and the Weasel, along with the entire Weasley clan, for what that's worth. Everyone's counting on you, looking at you to help save them. All everyone's hoping from me is that I die soon—"

"No! You can't!" Harry pushed Draco down into the wet grass, ignoring the look of surprise as he draped himself on top of the other man. He tucked his head into the soft skin of Draco's throat and turned so that he could speak quietly into Draco's ear.

"Do you know how much it scares me in battle, when there are curses flying and people falling everywhere, that I would be the one who sends the curse that kills you? Or that I spend every minute hoping and pleading that when the battle is over and the dead are collected, I won't find your body lying amongst the dead? That at the end of the night I cry in relief when I know you are still alive."

Draco opened his mouth to protest, no doubt with some twisted form of logic of why the world would be better if he were dead, but Harry quickly interrupted with, "I want you, Draco. Only you. And it kills me that I can't keep you safe with me."

Draco exhaled slowly before reaching up and smoothing the wet hair back to reveal the lightning bolt scar. "I don't deserve you, Harry. I'm wrong for you. I've made all the wrong choices, remember?" At this, he reached down and yanked the left shirt sleeve up to reveal the ugly Mark. "I belong to him and unless I follow his rules, Mother and I die. I can't risk that." He started to pull down the shirt sleeve, but Harry placed his hand on the Mark to hide it.

"Don't condemn yourself so quickly. Your body may be unwillingly bound to him, but your spirit is still free. And that's what I fell in love with," Harry murmured, planting kisses all over Draco's face: his eyelids, nose, chin, cheeks, forehead, leaving not one inch of skin unclaimed. Draco was still for a moment, until finally he reached behind Harry's head to guide him forward until their mouths met to kiss him properly.

The drizzle fell steadily now, bringing with it the scent of warm earth and tranquility as Harry whispered, "When I kill him, I'll come for you, to claim what's mine. Do you understand that, Draco?" The question went unanswered as the other man rolled Harry onto his back, far too busy tugging open the shirt to kiss the skin that had become so familiar over the years.

Until suddenly, Draco pushed back and stood up, face twisting in pain as he scrambled to pull his shirt back on. Harry looked up at him through fogged-up glasses, confused.

"Fuck, where's my wand?" Draco searched the grass as he tucked his shirt hastily in his trousers. Harry reached over and grabbed the hawthorn wand before handing it to Draco.

"Here. What are—" Harry stopped talking as he saw the Dark Mark become darker and his heart stopped at the thought of Draco being Summoned.

"Don't go. Stay here with me. I promise you'll be safe," Harry pleaded. Even as the words left his mouth, he stood up and shook Draco's cloak, placing it on Draco's shoulders. His fingers trembled as he fastened the buttons, thinking that their time, like always, was too short and never enough to say a proper goodbye.

"I don't have a choice. She's the only one I have left. You have everything, Harry, and she's the only one I have left." Draco said, turning around to look down at the ground to make sure he's left nothing behind.

With one desperate look at Harry, begging him to understand, Draco started running to get past the protective wards of the safe house to Apparate.

The loss of contact left a hole in Harry's heart and he ran after Draco, almost falling in the wet grass. He reached forward, grabbing empty air at first. When he tried again, he caught a hold of the back of the cloak and turned him around.

Draco didn't even have time to raise his wand before Harry jumped into his arms and kissed him until they're both breathless. He tried to demonstrate with the kiss to be safe, to not die, but most importantly to come back to Harry soon, he will be waiting.

When Harry pulled back, he whispered, "You always have a choice, Draco."

Looking down at the bright green eyes, Draco nodded once, turned around and Disapparated, leaving a cold and drenched Harry standing into the rain.

"I hope you make the right one," Harry said into the silent night.

The old man lifted his head from the Pensieve and sighed, mindful of the way his body protested with slight pain as he carefully sat back in his chair. His body was failing him and now it seemed that his mind was right behind. He could no longer remember every detail of the ten years he had with his lover, every smile, every argument, everything that had made life worthwhile, all slipping away like grains of sand down an hourglass.

Still, he only had to see rain fall from the sky to remind him of that unspoken promise made all those years ago. His lover's death wasn't a goodbye set in stone, though it felt like it in quiet moments, and he was certain he would be waiting for him to start their next grand adventure.


End file.
